Oxford Sigma has returned to Oxford’s city centre to accelerate fusion materials technology commercialisation to help tackle climate change and resolve energy security, with new global headquarters at The Oxford Trust’s Oxford Centre for Innovation.
Oxford Sigma was founded in 2019 in the heart of the city by Jonathan Musgrove and Dr Thomas Davis to address the emerging need for technology solutions in materials science for fusion energy. At the time of Oxford Sigma’s founding, Dr Davis was completing a PhD in Materials Science at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford.
For three years, Oxford Sigma was located at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire. By making the Oxford Centre for Innovation its global headquarters, Oxford Sigma is actively involved in fostering the next generation of fusion technology innovators and engineers in Oxford. It has recently opened a satellite office in United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s Culham Innovation Centre, the heart of the UK’s fusion ecosystem.
The company has been working alongside the University of Oxford’s Department of Materials in solving key materials challenges with liquid lithium breeder blanket fusion technology, hosting undergraduate placements in 2022 and 2023, and collaborating on research to rapidly design radiation-tough multi-component tungsten alloys.
In addition to supporting fusion research and innovation in Oxford, the company is keen to foster the city’s growing community of fusion engineers, scientists, physicists, and professionals.
Since opening the new headquarters, Oxford Sigma has invited applications for full-time positions in fusion and development engineering as well as coordinated with universities in sponsoring future doctoral research candidates in fusion.
Photo of Dr Thomas Davis, Co-founder and CTO and Jonathan Musgrove, Co-founder and CEO outside The Oxford Trust’s Oxford Centre for Innovation
“We warmly welcome Oxford Sigma, a leader in key fusion materials, to our Oxford Centre for Innovation. We look forward to seeing the company grow as they continue their impressive strategy to accelerate the commercialisation of fusion to help tackle climate change and resolve energy security. They are now part of our 40-company strong thriving community of science and tech start-ups and spin-outs across our two centres which regularly collaborates for the benefit of discovery.”
~ Steve Burgess, Chief Executive Officer, The Oxford Trust
“The Oxford Centre for Innovation is the perfect place to continue Oxford Sigma’s story and contribute to making Oxford not only a science and technology hub, but the place for innovation in fusion within the UK. The company has come full circle and we are excited to get to work in supporting our home city of Oxford in achieving its potential as the forefront of fusion technology both in the UK and globally. The Centre is a thriving community of science and technology entrepreneurs making this location ideal for working with our partners in the fusion industry, world-leading research teams, and government towards achieving fusion as the ultimate clean energy source.“
~ Dr Thomas P. Davis, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
About Oxford Sigma
Oxford Sigma is a Fusion Technology company with a vision to tackle energy security and climate change by accelerating the commercialisation of fusion energy. Our mission is to deliver materials technology, materials solutions, and fusion design services. Oxford Sigma aims to produce advanced materials technologies, agnostic to fusion approach, for the materials ecosystem. Our fusion core materials are engineered to enable longer term operations for fusion pilot plants, with the aim of roll out to the first-of-a-kind commercial power stations. Oxford Sigma is internationally recognised as a key fusion materials and technological leader. The company operates in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, and Japan, with offices in the UK and USA. Our roots and headquarters are in Oxford, UK.
Get in touch at [email protected]
About The Oxford Trust
The Oxford Trust is an independent charitable trust, founded in 1985 by entrepreneurs the late Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood, co-founders of Oxford Instruments, the University’s first, and some say most successful, spinout company. Their mission is simple: to encourage the pursuit of science. They do this through their three connected programmes: STEM education, public engagement and innovation. While the Trust focuses on the enterprise strategy, its education and engagement programmes are delivered through Science Oxford.
Their innovation programme supports economic growth in the Oxfordshire region by encouraging enterprise. The Trust owns the Oxford Centre for Innovation in the city centre and the Wood Centre for Innovation in Headington to provide flexible and cost-effective office, technical workspace, R&D labs, co-working and virtual office space as well as 1:1 business advice to support science and tech start-ups and spinouts. Over the last 35 years, the Trust has helped hundreds of science and tech companies to flourish and grow, including Mirada Medical, Perspectum Diagnostics, Navenio and Natural Motion.
The Trust is proud that the income from its innovation centres is reinvested into our Science Oxford education and public engagement programmes, which aim to cultivate a positive attitude to science and lay the foundations for science learning.
www.theoxfordtrust.co.uk